A Sign to Settle Down
by MyNameBeJacob
Summary: When Beca discovers some life changing news, she feels conflicted about telling Jesse. She requires the support of her friends not to have an emotional breakdown, and figure out the right thing to do. (Oneshot)


"Amy, what does it say?!" I snap from inside the bathroom.

"I don't know! It's not ripe just yet!" she responded hastily. I pace around the bathroom and anxiously clutch my stomach. I couldn't take that test alone. I couldn't even look at the freakin' thing! Thank God Amy and Chloe were close by, or I would have been sitting on my bathroom floor holding and unopened pregnancy test for hours. I called them and they came right over, ready to support my crazy, hormonal, and hopefully not pregnant ass.

"Holy shit, you guys, what if it's positive?" I ask my friends standing outside the door.

"It's not that big of a deal, Beca!" Chloe chimes. "You know Jesse's going to be ecstatic."

"What if he's not? I mean, maybe he's not ready. Lord knows I'm not!"

"You could always sell it on eBay," Amy suggests in a completely serious manner. I don't even know how to respond to that.

"Beca, you and Jesse are twenty-eight years old! You're mature adults, and I know that everything is going to be fine! Didn't you think you'd have kids after you got married?" Chloe asks.

"Well, I mean we talked about it a little, but we were planning on it after we were a little bit more stable! I mean, I'm just starting to make steady money with producing music, and Jesse just started teaching choir at that elementary school. We wanted to settle down more, first!" I explain to her.

"And if you are pregnant, that baby will help you settle down. You just have to be calm and rational about this." Fuck rationalism. I am in no mood to be _rational_.

"Amy, what the hell does it say?!" I demand again.

"It's, um… It's, uh…" Oh, God.

"Amy!" I yelled. I heard her gasp. She flings the door open and thrusts the pregnancy test in my face.

"It's a cross, Beca! You're carrying the Holy Spirit!" While Amy is whooping and cheering, I snatch it from her hands.

"Amy, that's not a cross! It's a…" Oh, shit. I drop the pee-stick, lean against the wall and sink to the bathroom floor. This isn't happening. This _can't_ be happening.

"Beca, don't freak out," Chloe says quickly and kneels down next to me. "Everything _will_ be fine."

"No, it's not Chloe!" I scream and stand up. "Jesse is going to completely freak out, and he's gonna leave me, and it'll be over, and I can't handle that and-and-and." My list of terrible things that are bound to happen is interrupted by sobs. Tears are spilling down my face, and I immediately regret it. I don't _cry_.

Surprisingly, all Chloe and Amy do is laugh.

"W-why are you laughing?"

"Jesse won't leave you!" Amy giggles, finally saying something normal and understandable.

"Amy's right, Beca! He loves the crap out of you!" Chloe laughs.

"But, what if he's not read to be a d-dad?" I stammer between tears and hiccups.

"Are you kidding me? A guy with all that talent chose to work at an _elementary school_! He loves kids!" Chloe promises.

"I know, but it's such a _huge _responsibility, and I d-don't know if he c-could handle it," I argue. My tears are starting to slow, but that stutter you get whenever you cry really badly is getting worse. You can't win 'em all, I guess. I exhale deeply and wipe my eyes again.

"If he can handle you on your period, I think he can handle a baby, I mean… seriously," Amy states. I shoot daggers at her.

"_Thanks."_

"Beca, you are going to be a great mom!"

"No I'm _not, _Chloe!" I say laughing. "I-I'm a total bitch. I hate kids! I'm always the one who complains when their moms have to slow down when theirs babies drop their shit at the mall! I mean, moms are nice, a-and they bake cookies, and make science projects when their kids won't do it themselves. That's not me!"

"But it could be! You could be that person; you just don't know! It's going to be okay, honey!"

I just sit there for a few moments, not saying anything. This is about more than me finding out that I'm pregnant. This symbolizes that I'm growing up and entering a new phase in my life. I'm growing up. Soon, I'm not going to be a random twenty something with no responsibilities or obligations except to find (or be) a trusty designated driver. I won't be able to stay up until three in the morning each night having a Lord of the Rings marathon with my friends. I won't be able to swear like a sailor. I won't be able to eat like a pig because I'll just get _fat_. Ugh, I'm going to get wrinkles.

"I don't want to tell him. I don't want to tell Jesse, Chloe."

"What? Why not? You can't keep this from him, Beca," she tells me.

"Oh, I totally can."

"Well you _shouldn't_, and you know it. He's going to be so happy!"

"Ugh… Quit shoving your positivity down my throat," I answer sarcastically.

"Why are you being so defensive about this?"

"What do you mean..?" I don't want to tell her why I'm being defensive. Blah.

"I mean, this is a great thing! You know that Jesse is going to be over the moon, and I know that you're happy about this, too. Why do you keep coming up with reasons to be upset and come up with ones to be overjoyed about?" Chloe asks sympathetically.

"Well, I… I mean, I just…" I don't want to say the truthful words, but it seems like I have to. I roll my eyes and run my fingers through my hair. "I'm… scared…" I finally mutter as quietly as humanly possible.

"Scared? Why would you be scared? Babies are the shit!" Amy blurts out.

"I've… never done anything like this before. I was never allowed to have a pet because I forgot to feed my first goldfish for two weeks, and it died of starvation! Hell, I can barely keep _myself_ fully functional. How am I expected to take care of a baby?"

"You're not alone, Beca! You have Jesse, and us, and the other Bella's I'm sure if they were in L.A. with us! There is no reason for you to be scared," Chloe explains, a smile on her face.

"Yeah! We totally got your back!" Amy assures.

I look up at my two friends, and am surprisingly beaming. I realize that they're right about all of this. Now, there's only the matter of telling Jesse…

"I'm home, babe!" Jesse calls from the front door as he hangs his coat up in the hall closet. I look at the stove clock and see that it only say 5:30. Shit, he's early.

"You're home early, baby," I tell him from the kitchen as I nervously throw our dinner onto two plates, pick them up, and set them on the table just as he walks in.

"Yeah, I only had a couple kids stay for tutoring, so we got done quick. Those kids are _crazy_ talented!" Jesse explains, smiling at the thought of his students. He loves to brag about them, and I love it that he's having so much fun. I lean in and kiss him on the cheek, laughing at the little bit of stubble that scratches my lips because he's always forgetting to shave in the morning.

"You're so cute when you brag," I tell him happily.

"They're worth bragging about," he laughs.

"Hey, guess what. I cooked!" I say motioning to the two plates on the table. I notice his confused look and try to hide a grin. "And by 'cooked,' I mean ordered Chinese food." He laughs and says,

"You're so cute when you brag."

"I'm worth bragging about," I tell him, and almost grab two beers out of the refrigerator until I remember the little discovery this afternoon. Shit. No more drinking. I put one beer back and shut the fridge.

"You aren't gonna have one?" he asks, puzzled as I set the one beer in front of him.

"Nah, I'm okay," I say, attempting to be as nonchalant as possible as I fill a glass with water from the sink.

"How was your day?" Jesse asks as he digs into his vegetable lo-mein. Crap, I think to myself. Okay, just keep your cool

"It was… interesting. I had Chloe and Amy over." Dammit, I shouldn't have mentioned them.

"Why'd you have them over?" he asks, not accusatory, just interested. Shit!

"Just as like… a girl's thing," I answer as innocent as possible.

"That's cool." Thank God. He's not suspicious at all. I should tell him. Ugh. I _have_ to tell him. "You'll never believe what one of the kids did toda-"

"Jesse," I interrupt with a sigh, and look down at my hands, twisting my wedding band.

"What's wrong, baby?" He asks, genuinely concerned. I look up and melt into those adorable brown eyes, swimming in worry. Why did he have to be so fucking cute? It's like owning a _puppy._

"I, uh… Well… You see, um…" How am I going to do this?

"What is it?"

"I'm… It just so happens that… Ugh!" I stand up and face out the window above the sink, watching cars pass down the street. "I don't know how to tell you this."

"Are you leaving me?" he blurts out. I'm completely blown away by this. I'm blown away to the point that, despite that tension that revolves around my paranoid idea that he might leave _me_, I actually laugh.

"_What?"_ I snicker, finding how hilarious what he thought I was going to say as opposed to what my actual news is. "Jesse, I would never leave you!" I take long, fast strides toward him, bend down and plant a kiss on his lips. I linger there, intoxicated by the way his lips taste and how they feel against mine. With a great amount of willpower, I pull away. "You know that right?" His eyes flick to the floor and then back at me.

"Well, yeah, I guess. I just thought that it could be a possibility…" he mutters, embarrassed as he realizes how stupid his idea was.

"Newsflash, I love you weirdo!" I tell him, leaning in for another kiss. I linger again, but this time, her pulls away.

"Wait, then what were you going to tell me?" Shit. That's right; I still need to do that.

"Well, um…" I have to pause and gather my thoughts. How am I going to tell him? I can't just blurt out, "I'm pregnant!" like some idiot. What about "You're going to be a father?" No, that sounds way too "Lifetime movie" for me. This is just as hard as I thought it was going to be. And then, right when I'm about to give up, it hits me. It's as good as any other variation of the baby news, so I might as well try it.

"Come on, Beca. Just tell me."

"Jesse, do you, um… Do you remember those "A ca-children" that you mentioned us having after I joined the Bella's and you joined the Treble's?" I asked, biting my bottom lip and hoping that he would understand my reference.

"Yes..?" he answers in that cute little confused tone that he uses whenever he has no idea what in the world someone was trying to say. I would smile, but I'm too busy trying to not throw up from anxiety.

"Well…" I take his hand and press it to my stomach. "We'll be getting one of those in a few months." I stare into his eyes and pray that he will be happy about this. It took him a moment to understand, but I saw it in those puppy dog eyes when it clicked. His jaw dropped, but no sound came out. At first, I'm terrified, but then his face breaks out in a grin that stretches from ear to ear. That grin, that same grin that I fell in love with on the day I met Jesse in the radio station while we were stacking CD's, proves to me that Chloe (and Amy for the most part, except the parts about eBay and the Holy Spirit) was right.

He stands up and sweeps me off my feet the same way he did when he carried me into our house the day we got married. He looks into my eyes and presses his lips against mine. We truly connect at that moment. He smells like that dusty, old music room he teaches in, but I'm coming to love that smell. He pulls away and looks at me, and with the happiest smile that I've ever seen on a person, he says,

"I'm going to be a daddy."


End file.
